Tuesday Teaching Tips #14 05/07/24

Welcome to the Tuesday Teaching Tip

Each week, the Faculty Collaborative for Teaching will bring you an easy-to-implement tool that you can use immediately in your classroom teaching. The goals of these tips will be to add to your teaching toolbox, share resources on teaching, and alert you to upcoming teaching and learning opportunities from the Faculty Collaborative.

TUESDAY TEACHING TIP:

Feeling restless? Anticipating that summer break only a few short weeks from now? Guess what, your students might be feeling the exact same way. Fostering student motivation is not only an essential aspect of teaching but also a predictor of learning, achievement, and overall student success. So, what can we do now to ensure that both our students and we are motivated to continue to learn? In this week’s teaching tip, we invite you to consider some strategies to keep your students motivated and, in the process, help you to achieve your desired class learning outcomes.

This week, we challenge you to try a new technique to re-engage your class at this moment.

Here’s one way to do it

Mix it up. Try a change of venue. Hold class outside. Have them engage in walking or moving discussions, outside if possible.
Reflect on your original intention. How or why is what they are learning important, relevant, useful? Maybe take this time to revisit your learning outcomes for the course.
Students are more motivated to learn when they find the material and the assignments interesting and/or relevant. Take time in class to provide the context so that students can answer this question: “Why are we learning this?”
A sense of belonging to the learning community can lead to learning gains. Foster a classroom environment where students feel connected to other students and to you, and that they feel respected, and valued. Remind them these are your goals for the class.
Help students understand that they have ownership over the learning process and that the process of learning, including how they learn and what they learn, is at least partly within their control. Seek and use student input and be transparent in your reasons for the assignments you give to help create personal agency in your students.
People are more motivated when they feel competent, believe that they are gaining competence, and feel that they know how to become competent. Take the time this week to remind them how much they have learned already. Celebrate small victories. Have them reflect on the progress they have made and have them share that with someone in class.

DID YOU DO IT?

Let us know how it went. We would love to hear your feedback about how you implemented today’s Tuesday Teaching Tip in your classroom. Click here to fill out our 3-question survey.

WANT TO READ A LITTLE MORE?

Faculty Collaborative DRT page on Motivating Students

Urdan, T., & Turner, J. C. (2005). Competence Motivation in the Classroom. In A. J. Elliot & C. S. Dweck (Eds.), Handbook of competence and motivation (pp. 297–317). Guilford Publications.

This week’s Tuesday Teaching Tip was prepared by Justin Boren and Patti Simone on behalf of the Faculty Collaborative.

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